River Tam was the teenage sister of Dr. Simon Tam, both of whom took refuge aboard Malcolm Reynolds' Firefly-class transport ship known as Serenity. She is considered a child prodigy, intelligent beyond her years and athletically gifted. After intense experimentation by Dr. Mathias on behalf of the Parliament – the Alliance ruling body – River was partially transformed into a mentally unstable psychic weapon intended for secret governmental use. She was rescued at great cost by her brother Simon but tracked relentlessly by several agents of the Alliance, primarily Lawrence Dobson, two blue-gloved men, McGinnis, the bounty hunter Jubal Early, and finally the Operative. Almost all of her time on the run was spent with the crew of the Serenity, who became her extended family.

Contents

Biography

Early life

During River's early childhood, she grew up alongside her brother, Simon, part of the wealthy Tam family on the "Core" planet of Osiris. It is remarked often that she was extremely gifted intellectually from a very young age (she is noted as having “corrected Simon's spelling since she was three”), and also very graceful. She has been portrayed and described consistently as having always had both a strong thirst for knowledge and a love for and intuitive grasp of dance. By the time she was 14 years old, she had grown “bored” with her studies and was already in the graduate program for physics.

It was at this point that she was sent to a government learning facility known only as "The Academy".[1] While her parents and Simon believed the Academy was a private school meant to nurture the gifts of the most academically talented children in the Alliance, it was in fact a cover for a government experiment in creating the perfect assassin. While in the hands of the Alliance doctors and scientists, River was secretly and extensively experimented on, including surgery that stripped her amygdala.[2]

In the R. Tam sessions, the progression of her youthful descent into insanity is shown, as are hints of her psychic abilities. She references the "Pax", which would later be a plot point in the film, and mentions the Academy's first subject “dying on the table”, something she apparently could not have learned through conventional means. The R. Tam sessions' portrayal of her initial interview with a member of the Academy indicates she had previously had strong “intuitive” abilities in addition to her high intellect and ready grasp of complex subjects. How and when this translated into her apparently full-fledged mind-reading abilities is unknown, but the R. Tam Sessions implies that she may have already had some form of latent psychic abilities prior to being recruited.

River being questioned.

According to Simon, the Alliance attempted to isolate River from her family, though she managed to send a call for help by putting a coded message in a letter to her brother. Simon decoded the message and set out to rescue his then 16-year-old sister, despite his parents' insistence that he was simply being paranoid. Simon exhausted his own personal fortune and sacrificed a promising career in medicine, but eventually located River with the help of anti-governmental groups. Simon suggested that it was members of this group that had rescued River from the Academy and delivered her to Simon, who had in turn financed their operation.[3] In actuality, however, Simon himself had a key role in her escape, aside from monetarily supporting the extraction.[1]

Rescue

After learning about River's abuse at the Academy, Simon is unable to help her for two years. However, Simon is eventually contacted by a group of men from an underground movement. They explain to him that the Alliance has been "playing with her brain". If funded, the men agreed to sneak River out in cryo. River would then be taken to Persephone, a planet slightly outside the Core, from where Simon could take her wherever he wished.

Simon spends a large amount of money funding the men. As part of the plan, he infiltrates the Academy disguised as a uniformed official of the Alliance government and asks questions of Dr. Mathias about River's treatment. Simon activates a hidden stun grenade and releases River. They then run to the window of an elevator shaft, break through, and the men's ship overhead releases a raft that they use to ride up to safety. This was all caught on the security cameras of the Academy.[1] From there, they headed for Persephone.

When the Alliance learned of River's rescue, they promptly froze all of Simon's monetary accounts, leaving him with only that which he had with him at the time, and put out a warrant for the arrest of both Simon and River, labeling them as fugitives.[2][4]

Personality and traits

River, when she is calm and lucid, appears to be quite pleasant, nice and sweet. Both Mal and Kaylee have taken note of this, Mal remarking that "I find River pleasant enough myself". She gets along well with Shepherd Book, as demonstrated in "Jaynestown". In the first excerpt of the R.Tam sessions we might have made the observation that this was her original personality. However, probably as a consequence of being experimented on and hence partly damaged, she is often a bit odd, occasionally making inappropriate comments and throwing tantrums. These have proved to be some of the lesser problems she created, though, because when she was having one of her mental outbreaks, she may commit dangerous acts (such as slashing Jayne's chest with a butcher's knife), and is potentially a threat to everyone. The danger she poses to everyone around her is made greater with her unparalleled genius and prodigious skill, in that had she wanted to actively harm someone, very few people would have been able to stop her from doing so.

In addition to being disowned by their parents, Simon and River are pursued by both Alliance forces and bounty hunters. Simon, a talented doctor, treats her regularly, attempting to find medicines that help the now mostly-psychotic River. Through an advanced form of medical imaging, he discovers that part of her brain, the amygdalae (which act as filters for emotions) has been stripped. Rather than causing her to not feel fear, which would be the typical human reaction to the absence of the amygdala, this prevents River from being able to control her emotions, even if she wants to. As Simon describes it, "She feels everything; she can't not."[2] The fact that she is a psychic and actively reads all thoughts, and in extension, feels all emotions around her, serves only to worsen her condition.

River Tam

River displays some ill-defined telepathic perception; she "sees" and foretells the future (though she often conveys her visions in a twisted, nursery-rhyme manner), she can "feel" people's emotions and sense their thoughts. At the end of "Trash", she threatens Jayne by very casually remarking "I can kill you with my brain", but it is unknown whether this was an empty threat or not (however, given River's psychological ability and her not having the habit of making empty threats, this is most likely true). She claims (at the end of the movie Serenity) to know what Mal is about to say and apparently reads the mind of Jubal Early (in "Objects in Space"). She exhibits a heightened ability to detect her surroundings, locating the bodies of the slaughtered crew in "Bushwhacked", finding her way around an otherwise unknown hospital without guidance in "Ariel", and detecting injuries or other physical problems, such as Shepherd Book being shot in "Safe" and a dying patient in "Ariel." This ability was put to use by the Serenity crew, as she could point out incoming dangers, specifically if people where going to attack them. The full extent of her psychic/intellectual powers are unknown, as are the intentions of the shadowy organization who experimented on her, or even the true relationship that organization has to the Alliance.

Although she is deeply intuitive and relies on feelings rather than knowledge, she often prefers to see things in a logical way. Given her immensely prodigious mind, she is indeed capable of being very logical when she is not overwhelmed by emotions. For example, she tried to 'fix' Shepherd Book's bible in "Jaynestown", due to her finding some of the biblical stories illogical. Her way of communication is almost lyrical, always deeper than it appears, consisting mostly of cryptic metaphors and never simple (save for a few occasions, e.g. telling Simon "You're such a boob").

Despite all of the tortures and experiments she has endured, River's extreme genius and mental abilities seem largely intact. In a scene edited from the final cut of the film Serenity, River calculates the most efficient escape vector and launch window for the ship to leave the planet Miranda entirely in her head. At the end of the film, she takes over the co-pilot's station and capably flies the ship.

Near the end of the film, River appears to have stabilized (even going so far as to actually say, "I'm all right"). But given that her amygdala being removed, medically her bounds of recovery would be limited, in that even if she has a conscious decision to become and remain normal, she would not be able to harness her emotions sufficiently to appear as normal. It is possible that the time spent with friendly and caring (albeit occasionally not-so-) company has lessened the effects of her trauma, along with whatever treatment Simon has been administering. It is also possible that the appearance of normality is as a result of the 'Miranda' secret, which is something she never knew she picked up back when she was being experimented on, and had been bothered by it nonetheless ever since, now being made clear.

Despite her frail appearance and petite stature, River's skill at hand-to-hand combat is virtually unstoppable. On two separate occasions she ventures into large melees, both occasions with 20-30 opponents against her at the same time, and the latest occasion had her fighting armed Reavers, all of which she killed. On both occasions she emerges not only victorious but (apparently) completely uninjured. The fighting style used by River in Serenity was a kung fu/kickboxing hybrid, modified to be more "balletic." [5] She was very proficient with combat, whether unarmed, armed melee and armed at-range. Her skill with firearms is also shown to be near super-human: during a battle in the Firefly episode "War Stories" she memorizes the battlefield in one quick glance, then proceeds to take out three advancing soldiers with one shot each with her eyes closed and her head facing away from the men. She only needed to point the gun in their general direction to and then move it after shooting once to kill all three.

Relationships

Despite her initial insanity, River nevertheless developed some interesting relationships with the rest of the crew of Serenity over the course of the series.

Simon Tam

As a result of her immensely high IQ River often made her brother feel quite inferior intellectually growing up, nonetheless the two are extremely close. Simon often affectionately calls her Mèi-mèi which means "little sister." As children, she and Simon enjoyed playing elaborate games together and remained intensely close during their younger years.

Part of the wealthy and influential Tam family, she grew up spoiled and lavished with the best in technology, social position, and education; River wanted for nothing. However, it seems that she and her brother were also driven to succeed by their social climbing parents and that though they loved each other their bond was based solely on their family's standing in the community. At the tender age of fourteen River was already in some form of college the Gen Ed school. However, she soon grew "bored" with her studies, seeing them as being "too slow."

When the opportunity to attend the elite and more educationally challenging Alliance sponsored "Academy" came up River jumped at the chance. However, the Academy was not the exclusive "school" that was presented to her. Indeed it was nothing more than an illicit cover up for the government to create assassins for the Alliance.

River being experimenting upon while in the "Academy"

For the next two years River was subjected to a battery of horrible psychological and physical experiments. During her imprisonment at the Academy, she was able to stay sane enough to send coded letters to her brother, in hopes that Simon would decode them and break her out. This hope was answered exactly, as not more than two years to the day that she entered the Academy, Simon came for her. By taking River out of the Academy she and her brother were disowned by their parents and labeled fugitives.

To keep a low profile and make themselves less of a target for the Alliance, Simon took his sister on board the Firefly ship Serenity. Even though she knew she could never go home, River was extremely relieved and happy to be with her dear brother again after being separated from him for nearly three years.

River happily and tearfully reunites with her brother on-board Serenity.

In her more lucid moments River herself realizes the depth of the sacrifices her brother has made for her. She feels that she is a burden to him most of the time and is heartbroken he cannot simply live his life as a surgeon on the Central Planets. This is something Simon refutes as often as he can, restating over and over to River that he has no regrets about saving her and that she is everything he needs to be content.

In a deleted scene of "Our Mrs Reynolds," trying to ape Mal and Saffron's marriage, River innocently asks Shepherd to marry her and Simon together, to which Simon protests against, and then explains its impropriety to River. The scene gives a glimpse into River's regressed mental developmental state and childlike behavior.

Kaylee Frye

River and Kaylee enjoy playing together and relate somewhat similar to teenage friends talking about boyfriends and past experiences. A scene in "War Stories", where River jokingly steals Kaylee's apple, results in a chase through Serenity and Kaylee claiming back the apple then stating "no power in the 'verse can stop me". Later on in the episode River repeats the statement after killing three armed men (with a handgun and her head turned) and saving Kaylee. Kaylee is understandably disturbed by the incident and avoids River for some time, though later decides to put it aside. At the end of "Objects in Space", the two are seen gossiping and playing a game of jacks. Kaylee, it appears, wishes to accept River as much for herself as for the awareness there can be no relationship with Simon without River's presence and support.

Jayne Cobb

The most vocal opponent to River's presence aboard Serenity, Jayne once attempted to collect the bounty (200,000) that had been offered for Simon and River by betraying them to the Alliance after she casually slashed Jayne's chest with a knife, although Jayne later helped them to escape after he himself was betrayed by the officer he had sold the siblings to. At the end of Trash Simon approaches Jayne about his betrayal. After Simon exits River pokes her head in threatening Jayne by very casually remarking "I can kill you with my brain" River seems to almost enjoy annoying him in her more lucid moments, once casually commenting "Jayne is a girl's name".

Malcolm Reynolds

During the events of Serenity, River demonstrates a certain attachment to Mal. When a subliminal message triggers a dormant behavioral conditioning program that makes her attack an entire bar, Mal is the only person she actually hesitates to attack. After she and Mal draw weapons on each other, the few seconds hesitation allows time for Simon to appear and knock her out. When she becomes the second pilot of Serenity, she tells Mal that she likes to actually hear him tell her the secret to flying a ship properly even if she can read it in his mind. She also seems to have some kind of attachment to him in "Out of Gas", as she can be seen in the background smiling in relief once he awakens after his near-death experience. After they thwart Jubal Early by sending him off to drift in space, Mal notes that River isn't quite right, with River simply replying that it was a popular theory. In addition, after being kidnapped by hill people in "Safe", she tells Simon not to worry, that Daddy will come and take them home. At the time, he misinterprets this as a delusional reference to the childhood story they had been sharing, but Mal does indeed turn up and take them back to the place River considers home, Serenity. [6] Mal's final affectionate epithet of "Little Albatross" in the film, with all its conflicting and powerful imagery from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", may well encapsulate his almost irreconcilable feelings about the young woman. She is at once the potential key to unlimited riches, of which freedom is the greatest, and a beacon for every form of trouble in the 'Verse.

Behind the scenes

An addition to River's story is made in the novelization of Serenity. Even after months of surgery and psychological abuse, she has been able to remain remarkably sane — sane enough to hide coded messages in her letters to Simon that escape the attention of Academy censors. However, when she is forced by her handler to demonstrate her abilities directly to key members of Alliance leadership, she almost immediately descends into extreme psychosis, her messages losing all coherence.